God’s Watchful Eye

[Posted by permission. Chippenham Old Baptist Chapel.]

Prayer Meeting Address given at Old Baptist Chapel, Chippenham by Mr. G. D. Buss on Wednesday evening, 27th February, 2019

“For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.”—Genesis 31:12

You may wonder whatever food you could gather from a verse like this in Holy Scripture. But, if we are given the grace to dig beneath the surface tonight, I believe we will find some precious things, especially for those who are in the path that Jacob was in; that is in the way of faith, but in a greatly tried and tested path. We sometimes sing (and the Word of God confirms it):

“But grace, though the smallest, shall surely be tried.”

J. Kent

Let me comment, first of all, on Jacob, secondly on Laban and thirdly, on Jacob’s God. It is He who is speaking. ‘I, the God of Bethel. ‘I, the God of Jacob.’ “For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.” Well, the first time we read of Jacob is when he is in the womb of his mother, Rebecca. There, even within the womb, he and his brother Esau were striving one with another. And Rebecca, godly woman that she was, goes to the Lord and asks the reason for this strife. The Lord told her. “Two nations are in thy womb…and the elder shall serve the younger.” Rebecca clung to that promise. I am sure she told Isaac about it. We would not unnecessarily denigrate what went on in Isaac’s tent, but, sadly, it does seem there was a partiality of Isaac towards Esau, and Rebecca toward Jacob.

We know the history. The first years of Jacob’s history are not pleasant. He was a cunning man. He was a supplanter. He was a man who would go to great lengths to get his own way and take advantage of other’s weaknesses and so press on, taking regard of no-one but himself. That was Jacob by nature; Jacob without grace, Jacob before he was called by grace, Jacob serving himself, Jacob serving Satan. That is what he was doing. In that sense, Jacob was no better than Esau. Esau was a man of the world. Esau was a man who also had great ambitions, and also cared very little for his father’s religion and his father’s God. These two grew up in their own way, both in the broad road that “leadeth to destruction.” But, almighty God, whose purposes are from everlasting, had decreed in His eternal covenant to set His favour upon Jacob, the younger. He had determined that he would not always be a supplanter and a deceiver; one who was Satan’s slave and a self-serving man. He determined to pluck Jacob as a brand from the burning and take him to Himself, and get a name for Himself. ‘I am the God of Jacob.’ We read in Psalm 146; “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God.”

The time comes when Isaac thinks he is about to die. He doesn’t die; his time had not come. Isaac lived years after that sad and solemn scene that we will hint at in a moment. He went before the Lord in that matter. And, whenever we go before the Lord, dear friends, you can be sure trouble will ensure. “He that believeth shall not make haste.” We are to walk with the Lord, not rush on in front of Him. “Enoch walked with God,” in union; the same pace that God would have him walk, the same direction that God would have him go. But, Isaac thought his end was coming and wanted to impart the eternal blessing. In his natural mind it seemed obvious it should go to Esau, even though Esau had already sold his birthright. But Isaac was determined to press on. We know what happened; how he sends Esau away to get the venison. Rebecca hears it and thinks the promise given to her concerning Jacob is about to slip from her grasp and his grasp. Something must be done by carnal minds to prop up God’s word and God’s way! Oh, Rebecca, where have you got to? God does not need your carnal schemes. He does not need you to prop up His way. But, she pressed on, and made Jacob a liar. Three times he tells his father: “I am Esau thy firstborn.” Isaac says: “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” Isaac was confused and bewildered. In the end he was overruled in his spirit and pronounced the paternal blessing; not just the natural blessing, but Isaac looked on and on to the kingdom that God had promised to Abraham his father, and eventually the coming of the dear Son of God in that kingdom.

So, Jacob leaves the tent. I wonder how he felt? In one sense, a blessing had been pronounced upon him. On the other hand, what an uneasy feeling must have arrested his bosom if he had a speaking conscience at all, that he had deceived his father in that way. Then Esau comes in, expecting to be blessed. ‘Oh,’ says Isaac, ‘I have already blessed Jacob.’ “Yea, and he shall be blessed,” says Isaac. Oh, the bitter tears that Esau shed! And we find matters get worse. Esau determines to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac has passed away. Rebecca hears of it, and Jacob has to flee. He had to flee, dear friends, from his father’s tent, from his mother and all that he had known from his earliest days and go out as a fugitive, as an alien, as a foreigner into another land; lonely, solitary and guilty with his sins staring him in the face. We might have thought when he lay down on that stony pillow at Bethel that no good thing could possibly come out of the path he had been treading. But, God will have His way. Jacob was the one to be blessed. So, dear friends, we know what happened at Bethel. The foot of the ladder was shown right near Jacob’s head, and the top of it reaching up into heaven. There, that man for the first time, felt the presence of God, heard the voice of God and realised for the first time that he could not order his own ways. He needed a God to guide him, to help him, to keep him and to provide for him. And the Lord gave him that most precious promise: “And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” The Lord had spoken to him about the land he lay on, and, of the promised seed concerning our Saviour, in due season.

But, He said: “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places.” Those places, dear friends, were dictated by God for Jacob to be in. And for twenty years Jacob had to live in what we might call ‘the school of divine discipline.’ He goes to Laban. The first time we read about Laban, who was, of course, uncle to Jacob (Rebecca’s brother), is in Genesis 24, when Eliezer, that most godly man, had prayed most beautifully outside the city gate and asked that whoever would come and offer water for himself and for his camels would be the one the Lord had chosen for Isaac. Rebecca comes out, and the prayer is answered. He puts bracelets and rings of gold on her, and when she went back to her brother, Laban, we read: “When he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister’s hands…” This shows us straight away the heart of this man. He was a man of the world; a man who wanted only earthly things and would go to great lengths to get them and to keep them. Laban was actually a very unsavoury character, but God had determined that for some twenty years Jacob should live in his service to learn lessons he could not learn anywhere else.

When Jacob arrives there, he almost immediately falls in love with Rachel. But, he is deceived in that matter. Laban deceives him, and Leah is the one who is given Jacob to wife, though Jacob thought she was Rachel. Could Jacob say: ‘You wicked man, Laban! How dare you deceive me like that? Oh, how evil you must be!’ Friends, really his mouth was stopped, wasn’t it? It was almost exactly the same thing as he had done to his own father Isaac, in a different context. He was reaping where he had sown. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Jacob had sown deceit and cunning, and he reaped it.

Friends, again and again with Laban, who changed Jacob’s wages ten times, he deceived him in this matter and that matter throughout those twenty years. And, we might say (our text says) God had seen all that Laban had done. God was watching. Why didn’t the Lord intervene before? He could have stopped Laban the first time and delivered Jacob from this unscrupulous man. But, no. ‘Jacob, you are to remain there. I put you there. You are to learn lessons there you could not learn anywhere else.’ Jacob had to remain there.

But, our text says: “For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.” We come now to the blessed point of our text: God sees, God hears. Let me just remind you of two or three passages in Scripture that encourage us in this. You will remember in the wilderness wanderings when Miriam and Aaron, two godly people, on one occasion turned to Moses and told him he was taking too much on himself and they were equal with him and should have an equal position in the nation. Moses held his peace. But we read: “And the LORD heard it.” And God dealt with it, as well. Miriam was struck with leprosy, and for some few days was banished from the camp. The Lord did heal her, but it was a solemn reproof. God heard it. Just as he was watching over Laban, God was watching over His servant, Moses.

Again, the children of Israel down in Egypt: God was watching as the taskmasters beat His people. Their poor backs were bleeding under the burning sun. Those cities were being built one after another for Pharaoh by these slaves. God watched, and God saw. Stephen, in his wonderful sermon in Acts 7 tells us: “I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them.” But, God waited. Jeremiah tells us in Lamentations 3: “O LORD, Thou hast seen my wrong: judge Thou my cause.” The point I want to make, dear friends, is threefold in this part of our text. First of all:

“Not a single shaft can hit, 

‘Till the God of love sees fit.”

J. Ryland

If God’s people have to deal with a man like Laban, the Lord is watching. The Lord knows. And, the Lord will have the last word. That is the first thing.

Secondly, God permits these trials to go on for as long as He sees fit, till the fire has done its work and until the rod has accomplished that which God intended it to accomplish. And, if you try to escape that rod before God’s time, you will only make the rod heavier and sharper. “Be still,” He says, “and know that I am God.” “Sit still, My daughter.” “Be still.” “Stand still.” The Lord will bring you out in due time, but at the moment; “if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.” “For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.”

The third thing is – oh, precious thought! God felt it. God feels for His dear people. We sometimes sing that hymn (one of my favourites):

“In all thy distresses thy Head feels the pain; 

Yet all are most needful; not one is in vain.”

J. Grant

Every pain you feel, every load you bear, every ache in your poor heart and every sigh is known to Him. In fact, the dear psalmist, David, says: “Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?” Our tears are preserved for a day of rejoicing. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

Now, why I have to take this subject tonight, I know not, except I believe the Lord laid it on me for tonight. And the first lesson is for anyone who is in this path, where they perhaps feel an injustice and want to try and put it right with carnal means. Friends, lay aside all those carnal means and all those schemes you have to try and give “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand. In due time; in God’s time, He will bring you out. He brings Israel out of Egypt in His time. He brings Jacob out from Laban’s oppression in due time. He brings Jeremiah up out of the dungeon where he said those words: “O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong.” And, friends, He is still the same God today as He was then.

Let us look at it a little more deeply, because there is another lesson here. In a sense, Laban represents all that is of the flesh. Laban was a very fleshly man. Paul tells us, in writing to the Galatians, when speaking about the conflict between Ishmael and Isaac (it was the same conflict that was between Laban and Jacob) that he that was of the flesh was persecuting him that was of the spirit. And that may be known outwardly in your walk. The very fact you have made a stand for Christ’s sake, or you have refused to lie when you have been asked to do so, perhaps. I think of our late friend, Mr James Oliver Pack, who preached in this pulpit many times. He had a very high position in a boot and shoe company, White and Co, Northampton. (They still exist, I think). He was one of the managing directors. One Friday, one of the other directors (who was actually his uncle) called him into the office and asked him to sign a letter. But Mr Pack refused. He told his uncle: ‘There is a lie in it. I cannot and I will not sign it.’ For some time after that, Mr Pack suffered at work because he would not sign that letter. He told me that what he suffered under that man he could not tell. He made his life so awkward. But, when that uncle was dying, he called Mr Pack to his bedside and told him: ‘Oliver, you were right, and I was wrong.’ “I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.” Friends, God can make the crooked straight and the rough plain. God can break iron bars and brasen gates. God can deal with Labans so that His Jacobs come out in due season.

But, look at it spiritually. Every child of God has two armies within. The Word of God tells us so. The Song of Solomon: “What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.” That is what Rebecca felt when Esau and Jacob fought in her womb. And the child of God has two armies within. He still has his flesh; it is strong, it is determined, it wants its own way, its wants its own will and it always has something to say about the path that you are in. But, if you are born again by the Spirit, there is another nature diametrically opposed to the old. What the old loves, the new nature hates. What the old nature hates, the new nature loves. There will never be compromise between them. They will always be at each other’s throats, in one sense (I use that expression carefully). They cannot be reconciled. And I want to encourage someone here tonight according to the language of our text. There is someone here, I believe, who is suffering greatly under the old nature. It is dragging them around hither and thither. ‘Oh!’ you say, like good Samuel Rutherford, ‘Oh that I had not a myself!’ ‘If only I could be humble, patient, submissive, quiet, holy and unworldly!’ And yet you find the very opposite working in your poor bosom. You would be different. You are like Paul in Romans 7. “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” ‘Lord, is there any hope for one like me?’ “I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.” Friends, He sees the conflict you are in. He knows what is going on deep, deep down in your heart. He knows what that sigh means, what that groan means, what that tear means. He says: ‘I have seen it. And, what is more, not only have I seen it, I will come to your aid.’ What did we sing in that precious hymn, quoting Isaiah 42?

“A bruisèd reed he never breaks,

Nor will he quench the smoking flax.”

S. Stennett

What a mercy! And again, another word in Isaiah’s prophecy towards the end of that blessed Book: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” “I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.” The Lord is watching. For the moment, as Peter says, “ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.” But, that is not the end of the matter. We read in the prophecies that Moses made, concerning Jacob’s sons; we come to the prophecy concerning Gad: “Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.” The Hebrew expression for ‘a troop’ is a marauding band. Just like Laban! Just like Pharaoh’s taskmasters: a marauding band! Cruel, vicious and powerful! But, that is not the end of the matter. “A troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.” The end is absolutely certain, as it was for Jacob.

Yes, blessed be God, He knows the path you are in. “But He knoweth the way that I take:” says Job, “when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” He permitted Satan to try Job with those cruel disappointments and discouragements. Job had to suffer the loss of possessions, the loss of his family, the loss of even his wife’s understanding, the loss of the friendship of his three friends: the Lord saw it all. In the end, He dealt with it all. “I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.” But, the Lord has the last word. Revelation 22: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

And, if you know what I am talking about tonight, you will need an Almighty God to come to your aid. You need the God of Jacob to come to your aid as He did with Laban, and with other foes Jacob had. You say: ‘But I am not worthy of it!’ Was Jacob worthy of it? Not a scrap. It was all mercy. He says so later on: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant.” ‘But, I have a God.’ “The God of Jacob.” Oh, bless God if you have that God tonight, dear friend!

Laban will not have the last word. Your old nature will not have the last word. Satan will not have the last word. That cross you are under; that crook in the lot, that thorn in the flesh: it will not have the last word. God will have the last word. We read that lovely word in Job: “The righteous also shall hold on his way;” the very thing, poor friend, you thought you could not do today, didn’t you? You were so oppressed by this conflict and so weary of the battle. ‘Lord, will I ever get to the end?’ “The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” “Clean hands.” What does that mean? You wait the Lord’s time, until He put His hand to the work. Jacob learned the folly of dirty hands, didn’t he? But he proved what God’s hands could do. And they can, my dear friends. There is nothing too hard for the Lord. And, when He arises for the help of His dear people, then He will have the pre-eminence. You will look on, and you will say: “This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”

One last thought. Just remember those words that Paul speaks in the epistles, speaking of our God. “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” We are not skilled enough to take the sword of vengeance. If there is one here tonight – I know not, you may be in this path of oppression in your actual pathway. You are tending to take up “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Friends, lay it all aside. Leave the Lord to take up the matter. When He takes it up, you can be sure He will deal with it infinitely better than you can. You say, ‘What am I to do then?’ Psalm 37 verse 5: “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” And, in bringing it to pass, don’t forget what both Rachel and Leah said to Jacob: “Whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.” Humble obedience. Yes. The Lord makes the way. “When He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them.” They tread in the steps of the Good Shepherd.

May God add His blessing.

Amen.